It is sometimes necessary or otherwise desirable to aspirate and/or flush bodily passages, such as sinus cavities, using a catheter. For example, when sinus cavities become infected, sinus irrigation provides an approach to address the infection. In conventional sinus irrigation procedures, a caregiver navigates a catheter over a previously-placed guidewire. Prior to irrigation, the caregiver must verify positioning of the catheter and/or guidewire using separate visualization equipment, such as a laryngoscope, fluoroscopy, or other suitable devices or techniques. This complicates the procedure by requiring the placement of multiple devices within the area of treatment and may provide less than ideal information about the area to be irrigated.
To facilitate position verification, lighted guidewires have been developed to facilitate visualization of the guidewire prior to irrigation. However, the use of such guidewires presents significant drawbacks. For example, while the guidewire can be visualized transcutaneously following placement in the sinus cavity, the light of the guidewire is blocked once the catheter is tracked over the tip of the guidewire, preventing the user from confirming final placement of the catheter prior to irrigating the sinus. Furthermore, the lighted guidewire does not convey any information to the user about the location of the catheter or the area of the cavity that will be treated during the irrigation procedure.
Therefore, a need exists for improved devices and methods of identifying and treating bodily passages.